Former premier Frank Hsieh’s (謝長廷) account on the Chinese microblogging Web site Sina Weibo (新浪微博) was suspended for unknown reasons yesterday, less than 24 hours after he made his account public.
He joined the Web site on Feb. 9, but only announced it on Tuesday during his weekly radio talk show. Within hours, he had more than 60,000 followers.
Hsieh, who in October last year became the first senior Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) politician to visit China, also became the first DPP veteran to join the microblogging service.
In one of his weibo messages, Hsieh wrote: “True freedom of speech is not whether or not you’re allowed to criticize government officials, but whether you lose your freedom after speaking your mind.”
Hsieh’s account was suspended at about 2:30pm, with a message showing that the account was not accessible due to unusual activity.
Hsieh said he did not know what happened, but that he would try to apply for a new account.
Before the suspension, Hsieh told reporters that social media was a good platform to get to know more about China’s civil society.
DPP Legislator Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌), one of the first DPP members to open a weibo account, supported Hsieh’s freedom of speech message in his own weibo post yesterday.
DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said the incident showed how valuable Taiwanese democracy and freedom are, and Taiwanese were best advised “not to have false expectations of the Chinese government.”
In other news, Hsieh rebutted a local media report saying that he would be meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at an art exhibition in Beijing late next month or in early April, along with former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and former Taiwan Solidarity Union chairman Su Chin-chiang (蘇進強).
Hsieh said he declined an invitation from Su Chin-chiang, who is the president of the Foundation of Taiwanese Culture, the exhibition organizer, adding that he had no plans to visit China in the near future.
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
RSS